Three stolen vehicles, three crashes, one carjacking in Yuba City spree, CHP reports

A man is suspected of taking three vehicles and crashing them in quick succession Tuesday afternoon in Yuba City, the California Highway Patrol reports.

Along the way, Klinton George Harlan, 39, is also suspected of kidnapping a woman to get her vehicle and driving her from the scene. The third time he crashed, Harlan suffered major injuries.

The wild series of crashes began about 2:50 p.m. when he was seen driving north on Highway 99 in a 2005 Kia Spectra that he allegedly took without permission from his father.

At Highway 99 and Franklin Road in Yuba City, he was involved in a crash that involved three other vehicles.

Harlan then is suspected of commandeering a Caltrans truck and trailer hauling a lawnmower from an employee who was working at the location. Harlan and the Caltrans vehicle were subsequently involved in a collision with three more vehicles at Highway 99 and Bridge Street, a short distance from the first crash.

At the Bridge Street intersection, Harlan ran a red light and struck the passenger side of a Ford Explorer. The Explorer spun on its wheels into a westbound Nissan Murano, which was also entering the Bridge Street-Highway 99 intersection. The impact caused the Nissan to ricochet into a Dodge Charger that was stopped for the left-turn light on westbound Bridge Street.

Harlan continued through the intersection as the trailer fishtailed, throwing the lawnmower into the side of a a building housing Norcal Floor Covering on the east side of northbound Highway 99, north of Bridge Street. The lawnmower came to rest in the parking lot of a gas station at the site.

Harlan then got out of the truck, allegedly carjacked a second vehicle and kidnapped the female passenger, the news release said.

The third collision occurred a little after 3 p.m. on Highway 20 at the Tharp Road intersection and involved six vehicles.

Harlan, traveling westbound, ran a red light and struck a Jeep Laredo and a Toyota Camry. He then continued through the intersection and collided nearly head-on with a Lexus that was stopped in an eastbound Lane at Tharp Road.

A Ford F450 pickup belonging to Caltrans was behind and to the right of the Lexus on eastbound Highway 20 at Tharp Road and sustained minor damage when the vehicle Harlan was driving glanced off the front bumper. The Lexus collided with a Dodge Challenger that was in the left-turn lane of eastbound Highway 20. A Honda Accord that was behind the Lexus suffered minor damage from flying debris, according to the news release.

The woman in the carjacked vehicle was somehow able to get out of the car just before the crash at Highway 20 and Tharp Road, according to the CHP.

Harlan was flown by medical helicopter to Sutter Roseville Medical Center. Three other people were transported by ambulance to area hospitals with what the CHP described as minor injuries. A fourth person also had minor injuries, but was not taken to a hospital.